Dimpled Mirabelle Plum Focaccia with Lemon Poppy Seed Butter

There are certain times in my life when I feel like I need to break free. Free from the usual. Beak away from what I do everyday. Don’t get me wrong – I love my life – especially where I am today. I have everything I could desire and am happy – right down to the core. I am a Gemini you see, and every now and then my terrible twin comes out of the hiding and asks “What if …?”

And leaves me wondering. Sometimes I get so contemplative about that what if that I get lost in a make believe world and it can take days for me to come out.

This weekend when I was in Frankfurt watching A-HA in concert and enjoying every moment of it, I came away wistful and contemplating that “What if” seriously. See I saw A-HA for the first time at 15. I was the typical teenage fan, screaming and swooning over Morten Harket. Today I am 37 and after over 20 years I came away thinking “you’ve come a long way true but what if I took another path in life. Where would I be?”

As my girlfriends and I waited with glasses of champagne in our hands, for Mags, Morten and Pal to come on stage I looked out into the hall and realized there weren’t any screaming teenagers there but those teenagers had grown up and were all sitting here. Some had streaks of gray in there once dark hair, others fine lines under there once gleaming eyes. Which path did they take? Are they all that they wanted to be?

Finally when Morten, Mags and Pal came out and began the concert with “The Sun Always Shines on TV” I remembered the exact moment the first time I heard the song so many years ago and could not help but smile. Morten’s crystal clear and husky voice still gave me those goosebumps – but this time the goosebumps were intermingled with years of experience and memories. I think I experienced this concert so much more intensively - with all my senses.

I am a bit of a wild one – always have been. I’ve learned how to tame it as I’ve gotten older but it’s very much a prominent streak in my character. Those who are my friends love me for it while those who are not hate me for it. It’s gotten me into trouble a few times but mostly it’s made me break loose from the conventional. While I do watch my decorum, I do not hesitate to do the unexpected. We live only once and if shouting “Morten I love!” at the age of 37 and getting the whole hall to cheer and clap was what I thought was cool I did it. After all in return he did say “Thanks, love you too!”

I spent most of Sunday thinking of my past and asking myself “So, would you do it all over again?”

I’d probably change a few things – do a few things I never got a chance to do and not do other things I did - but would want the same results. I’d want to be exactly here where I am today. With Tom and Soeren. And with Morten and the songs from A-HA escorting me through it all.

This focaccia is perfect for the daydreamers in us. Yeasty dough dimpled with sweet mirabelle plums and laced with a lemon and poppy seed butter – a heavenly combination.

Prepare the dough by dissolving the yeast in the milk, then add flour, sugar, eggs, butter and a pinch of salt and knead with the kneading hooks of your machine. The dough should be smooth and silky. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm dry place - approx. 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. and prepare a baking tray by lining it with some baking paper.

Once the dough has risen using floured fingers spread the dough out to the edges of the baking tray. Cover and allow to rest for another 20 minutes.

Using your thumb dimple the dough side by side making cavities for the mirabelle plums and the lemon poppy seed butter.

For the focaccia topping

Whisk together sugar and butter with an electric whisk until the mixture is smooth, creamy and pale in color. Add the roasted poppy seeds, lemon zest and juice and incorporate into the creamy mixture.

Fill the buttercream in a pastry bag with a plain tip.

Place a mirabelle plum half in the first dimple then squirt some of the buttercream into the next dimple. Do this switching alternatively from plum to buttercream until all the dimples are filled.

Bake in the oven, second rack from bottom, for approx. 20 to 25 minutes. The top of the focaccia should be lovely and golden.

Allow to cool then if using the icing sugar dust with the sugar.

Verdict

This was truly exquisite. The pure aroma of the yeast focaccia intermingled with the fruity mirabelle and lemon poppy seed was just bliss. But the bite into the soft and chewy sweet focaccia was just heaven. Soeren was in love with it - it was his hit & run cake. What I mean by that is while he's out playing with the kids he'll quickly come in hit on a piece and run off with it. Tom too actually cut up a huge slice and hid it away from Soeren it was fairly hilarious watching them.

This focaccia is a simple lazy Sunday afternoon kind of treat. Enjoyed with tea or coffee and the hot tunes from A-HA it honestly satisfies to the core.

I would like to invite you all to a fantastic party this mingle. Come and join me for a grand Brunch.

Make your favorite brunch recipes and bring send your creations to me by November 16th.

See you there!

European Food Blogger Connect UpdateCircle November 28th in your calendars. That's when the first European Food Bloggers Connect is taking place in London. We’re all excited at the fantastic response so far. Foodies from all over the world will be flying in to join this great event. What’s more a few brilliant presentations by a selection of talented bloggers are planned for this event. Yes and I am going to have the honor of speaking on the topic of basic food photography and food styling. I’ll need all the support I can get so hope you’ll all be there. Check out the updated Food Blogger Connect flyer for more information on speakers and presentations.

Ahahaha, love Claire's comment. I don't know if you know this, but mirabelles are very close to my heart, I still have a mirabelle clafoutis I need to talk about in a post in my drafts. I've never seen a mirabelle focaccia, especially not one laced with lemon poppyseed butter, but when you hear what I put in the mirabelle clafoutis, you'll know for sure we're twins, no kidding. Gorgeous pictures my sweet!

Yum, Mirabelles! We can't get them here in the States, at least I've never found them and I remember them from when I was a kid living in France and Germany. Oh my. I don't think plums will get me to quite the same place but I'll try.

It's funny how certain things bring us right back into memory lane... A-Ha does that for me too! I have never been to a concert but they are one of my favorite bands. How fun that you went again after all those years! I too wonder -maybe too often- about the 'what if's' as I now do the things I love but I could have maybe started a bit earlier!! Love the focaccia!

There are certain things in everyone's life that bring those "what if" thoughts, I think. But as we grow older, I think we learn to appreciate how our choices we've made have brought us to where we are - I'm just glad that you've found that you're happy where you've arrived! I've never had or seen a mirabelle plum, but this focaccia looks lovely - not overly sweet, but bursting with a pleasing flavor. I would love to enjoy it with tea.

Oooh, that reminds me, I still have at least 3 mirabelle posts in my drafts folder... no focaccia though - this looks incredible! Love the rest of the post too, and can identify with the decorum-edged-with-wildness ;-) I also have no regrets about what has brought me here (well, maybe there was one relationship I could have ended a year earlier and saved myself a lot of trouble!) and I am finally feeling as if I am becoming the person I have always meant to be. Maybe we can discuss more over a glass of wine on the 28th :)

AHA....loved the read up U got me thinking too. Life is as beautifully dimpled as your focaccia and FUN! Screaming good fun & I'm glad to have met you. Love the focaccia & enjoyed the read up about the emergence of the terrible twin even more. I hv one of those here, the gemini son, who has me up at 3am to drop him for camp...& he shows his 'other' side often now. You give me a run for my wild side. xo

Thank you all for all your wonderful comments and also sharing your thoughts on this post. Nice to know that I am not the only one who has the feeling of breaking free! Glad you all are liking this focaccia. A bit different to the savory type but totally delicious.

Beautiful, though provoking post, Meeta. I would, like you, go back and do things differently, taken the right path when I had taken the left, done so many things differently (been more wild, for one) yet I too would've ended up here with JP and the boys. That, my love, is destiny.

Fabulous sweet focaccia - have always wanted to make one. I'll just nad your recipe, thank you very much. Looks scrumptious as well as perfect!

Meeta, when Im daydreaming or unable to make a decision or want to "break free", K asks me if my secret twin popped up !... Its really so hard to explain what we are going thru at such times.. difficult to put in words...It is reassuring to know that there is someone out there who goes through phases like me. Glad to know you enjoyed the concert and Id love to taste the sweet focaccia , Im not sure if i would be able to lay my hands on mirabelle plums, but may be I can substitute it with something else.

Your plum foccacia is exquisite to look at. We've decided to give the recipe a try. Sweet plums are a beautiful addition to bread and pastry - they keep their color and shape and add so much guilt free richness to the final dish. This one's a real winner!

I love mirabelles but I have never found them in the US. Too bad because I would have loved the idea of trying a sweet foccacia. Well, I'll settle for the traditional one with green olives. We all love it in my family!

Meeta, that sounds soo good! I love poppy seeds and mirabelles... but the last ones for some reason are very hard to get here in London... used to eat tones of them back home when I was a child... still remember this sweet and sour flavour :)

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hello, I am Meeta a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer living in the cuturally rich city of Weimar, Germany with my husband and our son, where I enjoy preparing multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. What's for lunch, Honey? is my award winning food blog where I combine my love for food with my love for photography and styling...